


the first of many summers

by mutents



Series: look upon this fine collection [2]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Best Friends, First Meetings, Gen, Summer Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 09:05:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12861285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mutents/pseuds/mutents
Summary: Courfeyrac was positively vibrating with excitement; he had been eagerly waiting for this since the last day of fourth grade.





	the first of many summers

Courfeyrac was positively vibrating with excitement; he had been eagerly waiting for this since the last day of fourth grade.

He was finally able to go to sleep away camp with his three older siblings.

Rosa was sitting up a few rows, chatting with one of the girls in her grade who also went. Courfeyrac could hear his brother Carlos' booming voice in the back of the bus, where he was kicking around a football with some of the other boys. Josephine, on the other hand, was quietly sitting next to Courfeyrac, rereading Animal Farm for what Courfeyrac could swear was the thousandth time.

"So what's camp like?" Courfeyrac asked, giving his sister a shake when she didn't respond right away.

"Camp is... well, it's camp. It's not really like anything else," Josephine said, pushing her sunglasses up her nose.

"Okay," Courfeyrac said, giving a nod and going quiet. After another minute or so had passed, he shook Josephine again. "What kind of stuff is there to do there?"

"Come on, Courf; you read the pamphlet mom gave you. I know you did - I saw it dogeared on your bedside table."

Courfeyrac sighed, focusing his attention on swinging his feet. He stayed quiet for about five minutes before interrupting his sister once again. "How far away are we?"

Josephine gave a long suffering sigh, not bothering to look away from her book. "Well, we left the school about ten minutes ago, and the camp is four hours away. You do the math."

Courfeyrac sunk low in his seat, trying and failing to come up with a way to entertain himself. He hadn't really thought about the bus ride, so he'd left his DS at home.

Something poking him in the side got his attention, and he turned to look at Josephine. She was still focused on her book, but was holding a familiar rectangular electronic.

"I saw that you'd left it in the livingroom and knew that you would need it," she said, dropping his DS in his lap and turning a page of her book. "I made sure to plug it in last night, too."

Courfeyrac grinned brightly, before leaning over and giving Josephine a kiss on the cheek. "I love you!" He exclaimed, his attention completely focused on the device as the words Pokémon Diamond flashed across the home screen.

* * *

Courfeyrac hopped off the bus, his duffle bag under one arm and his trashbag of bedding held firmly in front of him. He glanced at the other kids gathered in the area, looking for someone who knew what was going on. Finally spotting an older kid in a camp polo shirt and khaki shorts, he hiked his bag higher onto his shoulder and walking over to the girl.

"Excuse me," he said, waiting for her to look up from her clipboard before continuing. "I was wondering if you could tell me my bunk assignment?"

"Of course!" The girl responded, giving him a mega-watt smile. The name embroidered on her shirt read Geneva. "And what is your last name?"

"Courfeyrac," he said, pulling himself up taller.

"Alright..." She said, flipping to the second page on her clipboard and trailing her finger down one of the columns. "Are you Adalberto or Carlos?" She asked, looking him in the eye again.

Courfeyrac couldn't help but deflate a bit at the use of his first name. "Adalberto," he muttered, looking at his shoes.

"What would you like me to call you?" She asked, looking back at the papers and highlighting what he assumed was his name.

"Just Courfeyrac is fine."

"Alright than, Courfeyrac! You are in the Maple Bunk, with Ben as your counselor," she said, gesturing to a pale redheaded boy around her age. "He'll be able to show you where to take your stuff, okay?"

"Thanks!" Courf exclaimed, turning on his heels and dodging around the other kids to reach the boy Geneva had pointed him to.

When he finally pulled up to the redhead, he saw that he was talking to another camper; a boy who Courfeyrac imagined was around his age, but quite a bit smaller than him. He couldn't help but notice that the other boy was crying as well, and that Ben appeared to be trying to comfort him.

"It's going to be okay, kid," he said, awkwardly patting him on the shoulder. "It may not seem like it right now, but you'll get used to it here."

Courfeyrac was weighing the pros and cons of interrupting, when he heard Ben start talking.

"How about I show you to your cabin, so you can meet your bunkmates. You're with me in Maple Bunk, right?"

"Hey, I'm in Maple, too!" Courfeyrac exclaimed, jogging over to them. He stuck his hand out to the crying boy. "I'm Courfeyrac! Want to share my bunk? My brothers always tell me I sleep like a rock; I don't talk and I don't roll around at all. I'll even let you have the top bunk! I'm always worried I'm going to fall off, even if I don't move."

The other boy was looking at him with wide eyes, but he'd stopped actively crying, so Courfeyrac counted it as a win.

"Anyway, what's your name?"

"Marius Pontmercy," the boy whispered, taking Courf's offered hand and giving it a shake.

"It's super cool to meet you Marius; we're gonna be best friends, I'm calling it now," Courfeyrac said, following after Ben as he began to lead them to their home for the next two months. "I've been so excited to get here. All of my older siblings have gone, and my younger ones will when their old enough. My mama and dad went here, too. It's where they met, like, a hundred years ago. I don't know if my dad stayed in Maple, but I know my brother Carlos did." Courf paused, focusing on the quiet boy. "You didn't want to come, huh?"

"No," the boy whispered. "I wanted to spend the summer getting tutored in Chinese, but my grandfather insisted I go. Said it would be good for me to spend time with kids my own age."

"Well, I don't know if they have a Chinese activity at any point, but my sister Rosa told me that the arts and crafts counselors sometimes do origami days!"

Marius gave a small smile, nodding. "That would be a lot of fun!" He paused, shifting on his feet. "And technically origami is Japanese."


End file.
